Triangle Business Journal Honors Virante CEO With 40 Under 40 Leadership Award
May 16, 2006
The Triangle Business Journal this week announced the receipients of the 40 under 40 leadership awards. Virante CEO Ryan Allis was among those mentioned. Here is a sampling of the interview questions they asked Mr. Allis:
1. To what do you attribute your success?
I attribute my success to the team I have around me, sustained hard work, a bias toward action, an ability to have a global perspective, a willingness to work around rules, and a good understanding of marketing.
2. How do you display leadership?
Leadership to me is guiding people toward a vision and working to get over any hurdle that might get in the way of your team’s objectives. My job has had an equal mix of high level work creating the grand vision, doing long-term strategic planning, and fundraising, as well in the trenches work managing at the granular, but critical, level by finding great people, developing systems and procedures, managing product development, and managing operations. I hope I’m able to display leadership by setting an example for hard work, being there, and knowing my field the best I can.
3. Who is your hero?
There are a few people in this world I look up to. I’m still searching for heroes, but I will call them role models certainly. These people include:
- Thomas Friedman, for his clear and thought-provoking writings on global trends as a journalist and author.
- Hernando de Soto, for working to establish property rights for the poor as a Peruvian economist.
- Jeffrey Sachs, for working to reduce poverty in developing countries as an economist at Columbia University and as author of The End of Poverty.
- Bill Gates, for his contributions to global health and poverty reduction through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
- Marc Benioff, for being a trailblazer in the software-as-a-service market with Salesforce.com and for supporting the development of technology centers in developing countries.
- Bill Clinton, for what he did for our country and what he’s working on now with the Clinton Foundation, despite his faults.
- George Soros, for the work he’s doing to promote open and free societies through the Open Society Institute.
- Robert Kiyosaki, for writing two books that made a big impact on my life at 17, Rich Dad Poor Dad and Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing.
- Muhammad Yunus, for starting the Grameen Bank and being a microfinance pioneer in Bangladesh.
- John McCain, for being able to dance to his own beat on Capitol Hill
4. What accomplishments are you most proud of from the past year?
I’m proud of hitting the $1M mark in sales in September 2005, hitting the $2M sales mark in March 2006, being named one of the Top 25 Entrepreneurs Under 25 by BusinessWeek, and being able to grow Broadwick from 8 employees to 25 in the past year.
5. What is your professional goal for this year?
This year my main focus is continuing to grow Broadwick. One of my main goals presently is to ensure an on-time and quality-assured 4.0 release of our product coming this Summer that we feel is truly going to revolutionize the email marketing and multi-channel emarketing communications industries. We also have the goal of raising investment funding, more than doubling our sales volume from 2006, reaching the 6,000 customer mark, and reaching the 35 employee milestone.
6. What is your professional goal for five years from now?
Within 5 years I hope to be able to complete what I’m working toward now with Broadwick, finish my degree at UNC, have made significant progress working to start a non-profit dedicated to reducing poverty in developing nations, and have been accepted into a JD/MBA program at one of the top 5 schools in the country.
7. What has been your toughest business challenge?
My toughest business challenge probably came in April of 2005 when we released the 3.0 version of our software. We quickly found out from our true Quality Assurance Team, our 1800 customers, that we had released the software without sufficiently testing it prior to release and without a way to rollback the release. The challenge came in being able to organize the issues, coordinate our response, keep team morale up, and manage communication with our client base during the crisis (which we didn’t do very well and in turn learned lessons from). Other challenges include growing Broadwick organically without outside funding, growing as a manager as we’ve expanded from 2 employees to 25, and being forced to learn about the wonderful world of lawsuits and arbitration the hard way.
8. What was your first childhood job?
Running a computer consulting company when I was 11 where I lived in Florida. I helped senior citizens learn to use email and the Internet for $5 per hour.
9. What was your first job as an adult?
Being CEO of my other company Virante, Inc; soon to be followed by being CEO of Broadwick.
10. If you were not in your current profession, what would you be doing for a living?
I’d be back at UNC finishing up my degree and running a non-profit working to reduce poverty in developing countries by fighting corruption, promoting technology use, expanding microenterprise and microfinance efforts, and instituting improved education, health care, and financial systems.
11. What is the greatest lesson you have learned about how to live life?
Be optimistic, plan and reflect often, enjoy the journey while you seek the end goal, play for the long-term, and always remember that when you think life is going really well it’s not as good as you think and when you think it’s going really poorly, it’s not as bad as you think.
12. What are your hobbies, favorite pastimes?
In my free time I like to work and sleep. From time to time I also like to play Madden 2006, Ratchet and Clank, or NBA Street on Playstation 2. I also enjoy traveling when I have a chance, hanging out with friends, and having discussions about politics, international relations, poverty, entrepreneurship, and technology.
13. What is your favorite sports team?
In basketball, my favorite team is the Tar Heels of course. In baseball, the Red Sox. In football, the Panthers, Patriots, Bucs, and Steelers.
14. What is your favorite restaurant?
Sunset Grill off of Fayetteville Road in Durham.
15. What is your hot button?
- The fact that 49,000 people die each day in the developing world from starvation and easily preventable diseases like malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia, and measles without nearly any media coverage or public awareness
- People that drive the exact same speed as the car next to them on a two-lane road, preventing cars in the fast lane from passing.
16. Is it better to win or have fun?
The answer depends on the stakes and what you’re playing for. Generally, try to find a way to win while having fun.
17. If you could be on a reality television show, which one would it be?
I would want to be on The Amazing Race or The Apprentice
18. What is your favorite electronic gadget?
My favorite electronic gadget is definitely my Playstation 2. Close runner-ups are my Treo and my glowing stock orb.
19. Who is the most famous person you’ve met, and what did you say to that celebrity?
About two years ago I had the chance to meet the NY Times Journalist and author Thomas Friedman at UNC and spoke with him about his book that was out at the time, Longitudes and Attitudes. I’ve also met Dennis Rodman, Michael Jordan, and Evander Holyfield but didn’t say much to them. I’m looking forward to a conference I’ll be attending in Aspen Colorado in June called Fortune: Brainstorm as I’ll hopefully have the chance then to meet one of my other role models, Marc Benioff.
20. What community cause or charity have you invested time in during the past year?
Orange County Habitat for Humanity, Junior Achievement of Eastern North Carolina, the Carolina Entrepreneurship Club, and Nourish International at UNC.
|
